I recently acquired 500 Missouri LRN bullets 18 Brinell hardness. I'm not familiar with lead and am wondering about load data. Should I use normal lead bullet data? Anybody out there with a good pet load for these? I've been reading through my manuals but there is no mention of hardness. I have both Unique and HP-38 on hand.
I like full power loads, not target loads. Will be using 1911s mostly. Any help would be appreciated.

fdepending on alloy and powder, you can do full loads with lead. You may get some leading, but in my blackhawk, with Ore. Trail bullets, I've run 1300 fps with 158 gr. bullets out of a 3.5" bbl. That's .357 mag full bore velocities. Work your way up, see what happens, and have some chore boy handy. You generally won't see pressures near jacketed pressures with hc loads properly sized.

That said however, I wouldn't load your 200g LRN's very hot. You're going to run into leading problems. I've been loading .45 extensively since 1984. If it were me, I'd use the HP-38, and somewhere between 4.6 and 5.0 grains, and they'll still deliver decent spunk.

I'd save my Unique for .357 or jacketed .45's. Hell, I'd damn near trade my car for a pound of Unique right now lol.

Nick;s numbers are wrong. I run MBC 200 grain SWC, I use 5.2 grains of HP-38 or W231 for my 1911's. I use 5.7 grains for an XD-45. I don't have my notbook or i could give you the aveage FPS of the load. I do like it. I better I just loaded over 2000 round this week.

Yeah Arch, 5.0g HP38 is a good way to go. I used to go as low as 4.6g's, but started getting into feeding problems. Mark Dozier is using 5.2 to 5.7 and I have no doubt they're working just fine for him. For me, when I load lead, I want them to just feed reliably and be as far away from leading problems as possible. That's why I'm at 5.0.

Airman Basic: I have a Scion tC. I guess it's a good thing I said "damn near" lol

Back from the range. The 5.0 gn loads ran fine but felt a bit weak. Plenty accurate, gun functioned fine(Rem R1) and no leading. I believe I'll bump the load up a few tenths next time and try that.

On a side note: I also bought some 115g 9mm of the same hardness. Loaded a batch that should chrony about 1000+ fps (my chrony is out at the deer lease). They worked fine but were a little whimpy as the empties were not slinging very well( P2022). Still no leading. I will also bump the load up a tad for the next batch.

I think I'm gonna like these bullets if I can get used to the smoke. They work just fine and are available.They were backordered but shipped in about two weeks.

This email link is to reach site administrators for assistance, if you cannot access TFL via other means. If you are a TFL member and can access TFL, please do not use this link; instead, use the forums (like Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support) or PM an appropriate mod or admin.

If you are experiencing difficulties posting in the Buy/Sell/Trade subforums of TFL, please read the "sticky" announcement threads at the top of the applicable subforum. If you still feel you are qualified to post in those subforums, please contact "Shane Tuttle" (the mod for that portion of TFL) via Private Message for assistance.

This email contact address is not an "Ask the Firearms Expert" service. Such emails will be ignored. If you have a firearm related question, please register and post it on the forums.